Slight bump in Raw’s rating a move in the right direction
On Monday, Raw蘑菇视频 rating bumped up to an average of 2.98 million viewers as compared to 2.61 last week.
While it isn鈥檛 a huge number, the 2.98 is a move in the right direction for WWE.
A little more than a week ago, reputable wrestling journalist Dave Scherer posted a piece online at http://www.pwinsiderelite.com, and he made several great points about WWE蘑菇视频 TV ratings and what the future may hold.
He didn鈥檛 pull any punches and jumped right into the thick of things stating about how WWE management declined to make a statement at the most recent investors conference call on the status of negotiations towards a new television rights deal as its current deal with NBC Universe ends in 2019.
Sure, we won鈥檛 see 2019 for another 18-plus months, but in the piece, it states that Vince McMahon guaranteed that the company would double the amount of money that they were getting.
One of the aspects that Scherer looked at was how cord cutting is affecting cable TV.
More and more people are getting rid of cable and using different entertainment options like Roku, Sling TV, and how these types of services does not come along with revenue.
The best example that he shared was how ESPN recently fired a huge chunk of its on-air talent, over 100 to be more fair.
With every cable package, ESPN receives nine dollars, and with less people subscribing to cable, ESPN is bringing in less revenue.
Another aspect that was covered was comparing Raw蘑菇视频 numbers to recent years.
The May 12, 2014, edition of Raw, which was the last show before the current deal was announced, had 4,006,000 million overnight viewers.
That was the second Raw in May, 2014, and the second Raw last month had 2,696,000 viewers, or 33 percent less than three years prior.
WWE, as it states in the piece, could be looking at a reduced offer from NBC, 鈥渙r worse,鈥� as it stated.
If NBC Universal dumps WWE, and if no one else ponies up, could we see the end of Raw, the longest running episodic television show in history, on TV?
Would Raw head to the WWE Network?
Time will tell, but for WWE蘑菇视频 sake, it needs to step up its game to get viewers watching live again and not on their DVR蘑菇视频.
Lesnar, Joe to be physical
When Samoa Joe won the Fatal Fiveway last week at Extreme Rules, he earned the right to face Brock Lesnar next month.
I was a little surprised that WWE went with Joe, but one thing is for sure, the match will be brutal for both men.
Each works a stiff style in the ring, and if the match is booked right, look for Joe to be elevated in the match even though he is expected to lose.
WWE holds mandatory meeting for talent
Because of several WWE stars having their personal social media accounts hacked in recent months, WWE held mandatory meetings before Raw and Smackdown Live about the circumstances.
They were described as a class on cyber security threats.
Credit goes to http://www.pwinsider.com/.
On this date鈥�
In 2010, Daniel Bryan was fired by WWE.
It was a result of an angle when the group he belonged to, Nexus, choked out ring announcer Justin Roberts with his tie.
This incident violated the company蘑菇视频 PG policy and he was fired.
However, the release created an enormous amount of sympathy for Bryan, and he was back two months later where he main evented SummerSlam.
This week蘑菇视频 question:聽 Now that it has been announced that John Cena will be returning on the July 4 edition of Smackdown Live, please tell me that he won鈥檛 go right after Jinder Mahal and the WWE championship? Frederick, Uniontown.
Since you said please, then no, he won鈥檛 go right after Jinder Mahal and the WWE championship.
However, don鈥檛 be surprised if he does because it would make sense for the hero to return home and conquer the villainous foreign rulebreaker.
It would make sense considering it would generate American pride, but I don鈥檛 see Cena winning the title on that episode.
And considering his next WWE title win would break his tie with Ric Flair for the most all-time, I expect that win to come at a WrestleMania.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.